Heel base and process of making same



Sept. 15, 1925.

W. H. ALBEE HEEL BASE AND PROCESS or MAKING sm Filed Db. 7, 1923 2 MW! 1 jay 7 Sept- 15, 1925. 1,553,301

W. H. ALBEE HEEL BASE AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAIB Filed Dec. 7. 1923 2 Santa-Shut 2 l I /Z I Patented Sept. 15, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ALBEE, F MARLBORO, MASSACHUSETTS, SON COMPANY, 011" MARLBOBO, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNOB TO B. A. CORBIN & A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSE'ITS.

I HEEL BASE AND PROCESS OF MARIN G SAME. Application filed December 7, 1923. Serial H "63. To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Apnea, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marlboro, in the county of Middlesex and 6 State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Heel Bases and Processes of Making Same, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to heel bases and 10 processes of manufacturing the same.

The usual consists in tac ng a rand strip around the outer mar in of a heel lift, and then comressing the parts so assembled. Such a ase has a recess in its upper face due to the presence of the rand, this recess being designed to receive the heel P01151011 of a shoe. After such a base has been secured to a shoe the shoe heel, which usually is of rubber, is attached to the base. In many factories the base and the rubber heel are attached to the shoe simultaneousl The present invention aims to improve both the construction of heel bases, and also the processes of making them with a view to efi'ecting economies in the manufacture of these'articles, and also to producinga superior article of this character.

The nature of the invention will be so readily understood from the following description when read in connection wi the accompan 1ng drawin s, and the novel features wi be articu arly pointed out in the appended c aims.

36 Referring now to the drawings,

Figures 1, 2 and 3 are perspective views illustrating steps in the process of manufacture of a heel base according to the present invention;

40 Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view on the line 44, Fig. 2;

Fi 5 is a side view of part of a machine which may be conveniently used in carrying7 out the present process;

ig. 6 is a perspective view of a ram face plate which forms a part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 5; and

Fi 7 is a cross sectional view on the line 7, Fig. 5.

The first step in the building of a heel pocess of making heel bases base according to the present process consists in adhesively securing a rand blank to one face of a heel lift L. Prior to this operation the heel lifts and rand blanks have been cut out and sorted or graded so that when they are assembled in this relationship the heel base blank so formed will have the desired thickness 0: height. The rand blank may consist of a single iece of leather, transversely and consists 0 two pieces or sections, as shown in Fig. 1, this construction being preferred because the leather can be out much more economically. It will be seen from an inspection of the drawings that each rand section is a duplicate of the other, and that since each section is cut to a curved sha e, it has a normal edge contour which ts the edge curvature of the portion of the heel lift to which it is secured.

A convenient means for initial step of the process is 5, 6 and 7, which illustrate parts of a heel building machine known commercially as the Alsop heel builder, equipped, however, with a special ram plate or face plate provided for the purpose of building heel bases according to this invention. This machine includes an inclined chute which comprises a bottom 2 and a. top 3 spaced at art by a suitable distance to receive a stac of heel The bottom 2 extends for practicing the shown in Figs.

operating mechanism acting therethrough which form a part of the regular machine. Immediately 4 is a base plate or ram plate 5 against which a stack of heel lifts is assembled in performing the usual heel building operation. For the purpose of positioning these lifts in the proper lateral relationship to the ram plate 5, two gages are mounted at opposite sides of the part 2 and they are slotted to receive screws 88 by means of which they are adjustably secured to side pieces 9 9 which are bolted to the ram. The screws 8-44 enter parts 11-11, Fig. 7, which embrace the respective side pieces 9-9 and clamp the gages 66 to said side pieces.

The stroke of the ram is such that the rearmost lift in each group in front of the ram plate is carried into the chute and just beyond two spring fingers or latches mounted at opposite sides of the chute, one of which fingers is shown in Fig. 5 at 7. These sprin lingers snap in behind the rear lift and thus hold the group of lifts in the bottom of the chute until it is pushed further along the chute by an additional stack of lifts.

For the purpose of practicing the present process, a rain face plate or follower late 10 is located immediately in front 0 the rain plate 5. Two raised portions or lugs 1212 are formed on the front face of this plate where they serve as gages to position the inner edges of the legs of the twoart rand R. The outer edges of the legs 0 the rand are engaged and positioned by the side gages 6-6.

In using this apparatus the two-part rand is located against the face plate 10, as clearly shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the forward faces of the rand sections being first coated with cement. A heel lift L is then placed in front of and against the rand pieces R. If the heel blank is to have more than a single lift, the other lifts are cemented and placed in front of the lift L. The ram is then operated to carry the assembled pieces forming the heel base blank into the chute and within the grip of the fingers 7. The opposite sides of the plate 10 are cut away, as shownat 14-14, to leave portions of the margin of the rand blank unsupported and free for the engagement therewith of the lingers 7. These operations are then repeated, each heel base blank forcing those in front of it further up the chute, so that by the time any individual heel blank emerges from the upper end of the chute the cement will have dried and the pieces willbe firmly united.

It will be observed that with this arrangement the two sections of the rand are held in their proper relationship to the heel lift while they are carried into the chute, and while the cement is drying the parts of each individual heel blank are held properly positioned by the other blanks at opposite sides of it.

After the cement has dried and an individual blank has been removed from the stack, it is next skived or gouged to remove the surplus material from the upper surfaces of the blank necessary to give the desired wedge shape to the rand and to reduce the base to the desired cross sectional dimensions. This operation may beconveniently performed in commercial skiving machines well known to the trade. A machine similar to a eounter-skiver preferably is used, the die roll being shaped to accommodate a heel base. The condition of the base at the completion of this operation is approximately shown in Fig. 2. This operation not only skives the rand to the desired ta er or wedge shaped cross section, but it usua ly, also, cuts away considerable of the stock from the u per surface of the central part of the li t, practically all of the upper face of the lift bounded by the rand ordinarily being skived. The forward edge or margin of the base also is thinned.

After this skiving operation has been performed, the rand is next nailed to the lift, which operation may conveniently be performed by the usual rand tacker. Zinc nails or tacks ordinarily are used for this urose. These nails are indicated at in ig. 3. The base so formed is then comressed to consolidate the stock and to mold it to the desired shape. While this operation is both a compressing and molding o eration, it is ordinarily referred to simp y as compressing. The molds in which the base is compressed shape the top and bottom faces of the base and confine its ed e faces other than the breast, so that when t e base is removed from the molds its surfaces are smooth and hard, and the upper face of the base has the desired concave seat to receive the heel portion of a shoe. The completed heel base is shown in Fig: 3. Usually these bases are breasted after being removed from the molds and before being attached to a shoe. After such a heel base has been incorporated in the shoe and the finishing operations on the shoe have been completed, it is very difficult to detect the break in the rand at the back of the heel.

In performing the skiving operation above mentioned, the amount of stock that is removed from the lift will depend upon the initial thickness of the lift and the thickness desired in the finished article. Usually it is preferable to bevel the margin of the lift near its breast edge so that it will be thinner at this edge than at any other point, this being desirable for the purpose of making the heel set properly on the shoe. Lifts and rand blanks of suitable thickness are ordinarily assembled to make a heel base blank of the desired height, and the skiving operation reduces the entire blank to the desired cross sectional dimensions, regardless of whether the surplus stock is in the lift or the rand blank.

It will now be appreciated that this invention provides a very economical method of building heel bases. The base can be assembled very rapidly, and the arts of the fact that the skiving of both the rand and the lift is performed in one operationafte'r' the parts are assembled effects a further economy in the labor expense involved in making this article. The use of a two-piece rand blank, as shown, makes this process very economical of stock. That is, these rand blank sections may be cut out of small pieces of sole leather scrap which are the' oils] from the operations of sole and heel lift cutting. The leather is'of good quality, in fact better quality than that of which rands ordinarily are made, but it commands a very low price for the reason that only small parts can be cut out of ii. For example, this stock usually is worth approximately from two to three cents a pound, while hi 11 grade crimped rands cost in the neighbor 00d of forty cents a pound. A very material saving in the total cost of a heel base, therefore, is effected by this invention.

It is a very frequent occurrence for the end of a rand of a heel base of the usual construction to be pulled out of place during the heel trimming operation, and it sometimes hap ens, also, that one or both ends of a ran will work out of position durin the wearing of a shoe. This is effectua ly prevented in heel bases of the construction herein disclosed because the rand naturally is made of scra sole leather which is of much better quality than the usual'rand, and this construction also permits making the rand wider Without appreciably increasing its cost, due to the fact that itis made of inexpensive stock. Consequently, when the base is secured to a shoe the heel attaching nails pass through a art of the rand which is stron enough to old it securely and permamenty in its proper osition. The fact that the rand sections ave a normal edge contour substantially fitting the edge curvature of the heel also eliminates any tendency of the rand ends to spring apart due to stresses in the leather. Such a tendency is present in the usual rands because they are bent or crim ed into their curved condition. The ran of the present heel base, however, resists any movement of the rand ends out of their normal positions since such a movement requires distortion of the leather.

The heel bases produced by this invention are also superior to the usual tacked rand heel bases SlIlCe they afford a better finished edge and they fit the heel portion of the shoe more accurately, the superior fit being produced by skiving or gauging the base to the proper cross-sectional dimensions and then molding to the desired contour.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in securing a. U-shaped randblank to a heel hft, and then skiving the upper face of the assembly so formed to substantially the desired cross sectional dimensions.

2. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in securing a transversely divided U-shaped rand b ank to a heel 11ft, then skiving the upper surfaces of the lift and rand blank to remove the surplus material therefrom, and subsequently molding and compressing the parts so shaped.

3. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in securing a transversely divided U-shaped rand b ank to the face of a heel lift and thereby forming a heel base blank, and then skiving the upper surface of said blank to remove the surplus material therefrom.

4. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in adhesively securing a two-part U-shaped rand blank to a heel lift, skiving the upper surfaces of said lift and rand blank to remove the surplus material therefrom, subsequently nailing the rand to the lift, and the: molding and compressing the skived pa s.

5. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in adhesively securing a twoart rand blank to a heel lift to form a bee base blank, repeating this operation with other rand lanks and lifts to form similar heel base blanks, pressing said heel base blanks together in a stack while the adhesive dries, skiving each heel base blank to shape the rand and to cut away any surplus stock from said lift, subsequently nailing the rand to the lift, and then moldlng and compressing the rand and lift.

6. That improvement in the process of manufacturing heel bases which consists in cementing a twort U-shaped rand blank to a heel lift an thereby forming a heel base blank, repeatin this operation to form similar heel base b anks, holdi the rand sections of each heel base blan in their proper positions on the heel lift while the lank is abutted against another heel base blank, continuing these operations to form a stack of heel base blanks in which the pressure of the blanks on each other holds the parts of said blanks properly ositioned while the cement is drying, su sequently separating the individual heel base blanks in. the stack from each other, skiving the upper face of each heel base blank to bevel the rand and to cut away any surplus stock from said lift, next nailing the rand to the lift, and then compressing and molding these parts to give them their final shape.

7. A heel base comprising a heel lift and a bevelled rand secured rigidly to the marginal portion of the upper face of said lift,

said rand consisting of two sections of undistorted material extending, respectively, from the breast edge of the lift-along 0 posite margins thereof and meeting su 5 stantially at the middle of the curve at the back of the heel base, each of said sections having a normal edge contour substantially fitting the edge curvature of the rtion of the heel lift to'which it is secure and said base being molded and compressed and hav- 10 ing a concave seat in its up er face to receive the heel portion of a s 0e.

WILLiAM H. ALBEE.

4 1,ous,ao1

said rand consisting of two sections of unfitting the edge curvature of the ortion of distorted material extending, respectively, the heel lift to which it is secure and said from the breast edge of the lift along opbase being molded and compressed and hav- 1 posite margins thereof and meeting subing a concave seat, in its up or face to re- 5 stantially at the middle of the curve at the ceive the heel portion of a s cc.

back of the heel base, each of said sections having a normal edge contour substantially WILLIAM H. ALBEE.

DISCLAIMER.

1,553 301.William II. Albee, Marlboro, Mass. Hm BABE AND Pmse or Manna mn. Patent dated September 15, 1925. Disclaimer filed March 12, 1927, by 1 the patentee, assignee, B. A. Corbin Son flampany, consenting.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim 7 of said patent. [O/ficwl 0mm March 29, 1.927.

DIS CL. Al M E R 1,553 301.-William H. Albee, Marlboro, Mass. Hm BA8E AND Pmas or Mmunn mn Patent dated Septembsr 15, 1925. Disclaimer filed March 12, 1927, by the patentee, assignee, B. A. Corbin (6 Son ompany, consenting.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim 7 of said patent. [Ofliczal Gazette March 99, 1.927.] 

